An example coring tool includes a cylindrical body having a leading edge to contact a substance and a cavity defined at least in part by an inner surface of the cylindrical body. The inner surface is to engage and retain a sample from the substance with a plurality of raised features. The raised features are shaped so that at least one of the raised features or an exterior surface of a sample in the cavity deforms to increase a force required to remove the sample from the cavity.
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1. A coring apparatus, comprising:
a coring tool to obtain a sample, the coring tool comprising:
a cylindrical body rotatable to obtain the sample and a cavity defined at least in part by an inner surface of the cylindrical body, the inner surface comprising a plurality of raised features to engage and retain the sample, wherein at least one of the raised features or an exterior surface of the sample in the cavity deforms to increase a force required to remove the sample from the cavity, and wherein the cylindrical body comprises a wall extending between a leading edge of the cylindrical body that engages a formation and an opposite end, the wall having a reduced thickness portion to cause the cylindrical body to be fractured in response to a predetermined load, wherein the reduced thickness portion is disposed along the wall between the plurality of raised features and the opposite end.
3. The apparatus of
4. The apparatus of
5. The apparatus of
6. The apparatus of
7. The apparatus of
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This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/504,635, filed on Jul. 5, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Wellbores or boreholes may be drilled to, for example, locate and produce hydrocarbons. During a well development operation, it may be desirable to evaluate and/or measure properties of encountered formations, formation fluids and/or formation gasses. Some formation evaluations may include extracting a core sample (e.g., a rock sample) from sidewall of a wellbore. Core samples may be extracted using a coring tool coupled to a downhole tool that is lowered into the wellbore and positioned adjacent a formation. A hollow coring shaft or bit of the coring tool may be extended from the downhole tool and urged against the formation to penetrate the formation. A formation or core sample fills the hollow portion or cavity of the coring shaft and the coring shaft is removed from the formation retaining the sample within the cavity. The formation or core sample may then be removed from the coring shaft for further evaluation at, for example, a laboratory.
The present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed. Moreover, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact. Embodiments in which additional features may be formed interposing the first and second features such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact may also be included.
The example apparatus and methods described herein relate to coring tools and coring bits or shafts that may be used to collect samples (e.g., rock samples, tar sand samples, etc.) from subterranean formations adjacent a borehole or a wellbore. The example coring shafts described herein may be used in conjunction with sidewall coring apparatus and methods. The example coring shafts generally include a cylindrical body having a leading edge to contact and penetrate a subterranean formation to be sampled. The cylindrical body has a cavity defined at least in part by an inner surface of the cylindrical body. Additionally, the inner surface of the cylindrical body may include a plurality of raised features to engage and retain a sample from the formation. The raised features may be shaped so that the raised features deform and/or an exterior surface of the sample in the cavity deforms, thereby increasing an amount of force required to remove the sample from the cavity. In this manner, the raised features of the inner surface of the example coring shafts may become at least partially embedded in a sample captured within the cavity. As a result, the example coring shafts or bits described herein may provide a substantially greater amount of sample retention force compared to many known coring bits or shafts.
The example coring shafts described herein may use one or more types of raised features and/or surface treatments. For example, knurls or a knurled surface, a helical ridge, a spiraled ridge, threads, serrations and/or axial ridges may be used. Such raised features are shaped to provide portions or areas of relatively greater stress or force concentration against a formation or core sample and, thus, may be capable of causing the above-mentioned deformation(s). Additionally, different leading edge configurations may be used to implement the example coring shafts including, for example, bevels, lips, wedges and/or a diamond cutter to suit a particular application or applications.
In another aspect, the example coring shafts described herein may employ a circumferential groove or grooves on an exterior surface of the cylindrical body of the coring shaft to provide a relatively weakened portion or area on the coring shaft. In particular, the groove or grooves may result in at least a portion of a wall of the coring shaft having a reduced thickness sufficient to cause the cylindrical body to fracture and shear off in response to a predetermined load, torque, or force, thereby facilitating withdrawal of a coring tool from a sidewall of a borehole despite the coring shaft becoming stuck in the sidewall.
The example methods described herein may involve selecting a coring shaft type for use in sampling a formation based on a property of the formation. For example, in the case where the formation property relates to formation strength or formation lithology (e.g., tar sand), such a property or properties may be used to select a coring shaft having a relatively larger diameter or a relatively smaller diameter. The property of the formation may also result in selection of a coring shaft having a particular leading edge configuration such as, for example, a wedge or a diamond cutter configuration. The example methods may be employed with the example coring shaft or bits described herein or any other coring shafts or bits.
In another aspect, the example methods described herein may involve selecting an operational mode(s) for a coring tool based on a property or properties of a formation to be sampled. More specifically, the lithology of a formation may be used to select a punching or drilling operational mode for the coring tool and/or selecting whether each coring shaft of the coring tool is to collect one or multiple formation samples. Thus, the example methods noted above and described in more detail below can be used to enhance or optimize a coring operation through the selection of a particular coring shaft or bit configuration and/or a manner in which the coring tool is to be operated for use with a formation having particular properties.
The coring tool 10 is generally contained within an elongate housing suitable for being lowered into and retrieved from the borehole 12. The coring tool 10 may include an electronic sonde 51, a mechanical sonde 53, and a core magazine 55. The mechanical sonde 53 contains a coring assembly including at least one motor 44 powered through the cables 16, a coring bit or shaft 24 having a distal, open end 26 for cutting and receiving a core sample from a formation 46, and a mechanical linkage (not shown) for deploying and retracting the coring shaft 24 relative to the coring tool 10 and for rotating the coring shaft 24 against the sidewall 12.
While
For example, the WOB provided by the mechanical sonde 53 and applied to the coring shaft 24 may generated by an electric motor 62 and a control assembly 61 that includes a hydraulic pump 63, a feedback flow control (“FFC”) valve 64, and a kinematics piston 65. The electric motor 62 supplies power to the hydraulic pump 63. The flow of hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump 63 is regulated by the FFC valve 64, and the pressure of hydraulic fluid drives the kinematics piston 65 to apply a WOB to the coring shaft 24. The FFC valve 64 may regulate the flow of hydraulic fluid to the kinematics piston 65 based on the hydraulic pressure applied to a hydraulic coring motor 44. Also, for example, to rotate the coring shaft 24, torque may be provided by an electric motor 66 and a gear pump 67. The electric motor 66 drives the gear pump 67, which supplies flow of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic coring motor 44. The hydraulic coring motor 44, in turn, imparts a torque to the coring shaft 24 that causes the coring shaft 24 to rotate.
Turning briefly to
Returning to
The leading edge 504 of the coring shaft 500 may be urged into a formation via a thrusting, punching or pressing operation using, for example, WOB provided by the electric motor 62, the control assembly 61, the hydraulic pump 63, the FFC valve 64, and the kinematics piston 65 as discussed above in connection with
The inner surface 508, including the innermost surfaces or edges of any surface treatment thereon, may be tapered over at least a portion 514. This taper may be about two degrees or any other taper angle to enable removal of the sample from the cavity 506.
In contrast to many known coring shafts, the example coring shaft 500 may provide a relatively large formation sample. For example, the cavity 506 may have a diameter of approximately two inches and a length of approximately two inches. However, other diameters and lengths can be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
The cylindrical body 502 has a wall having reduced thickness portion 516 to cause the cylindrical body 502 to fracture or shear (at the portion 516) in response to a predetermined load (e.g., torque, force, etc.). The portion 516 may be formed as a continuous circumferential groove as depicted in
The example coring shaft 500 also includes an end 518 that enables the coring shaft 500 to be removably coupled to a thrusting actuator (see one example in
The example coring shafts described herein may be used in conjunction with the example method 900 of
Once the coring shaft type has been selected at block 906, a coring shaft having the selected type is coupled to a coring tool (block 908). The coring shaft coupled to the coring tool may be selected from a plurality of coring shafts stored in the coring tool or a portion of a downhole tool carrying the coring tool. The coring shafts may have different diameters and/or leading edges for use with different types of formations. For example, any or all of the coring shafts described here may be used. In cases where multiple coring shafts are kept at the surface, the formation evaluation tool may be withdrawn from the borehole and an appropriate one of the coring shafts (e.g., selected based on the property) may be attached to the coring tool, The coring tool may then be lowered into the borehole. Once the selected coring shaft has been coupled to the coring tool at block 908, the coring tool may then obtain a sample (for transport back to the Earth's surface) from the formation using the selected coring shaft (block 910).
The example coring shafts described herein may also be used in conjunction with the example method 1000 of
While in the methods 900 and 1000, the coring shafts are used to obtain samples from a subterranean formation adjacent a borehole, the example coring shafts described herein may also be used to acquire other types of samples, such as soil samples, ice samples, or samples of materials used in masonry.
The example of
The embodiment of
In view of the foregoing description and the figures, it should be clear that the present disclosure introduces coring apparatus and methods to use the same. According to certain aspects of this disclosure, an example apparatus includes a coring tool to obtain a sample. The coring tool includes a cylindrical body having a leading edge to and a cavity defined at least in part by an inner surface of the cylindrical body. The inner surface is to engage and retain a sample with a plurality of raised features, and the raised features are shaped so that at least one of the raised features or an exterior surface of a sample in the cavity deforms to increase a force required to remove the sample from the cavity.
According to other aspects of this disclosure, a method involves disposing a coring tool in a borehole adjacent a subterranean formation to be sampled, determining a property of the formation, selecting a coring shaft type based on the property, coupling a coring shaft having the selected type to the coring tool, and obtaining a sample from the formation using the coupled coring shaft.
According to other aspects of this disclosure, a method involves disposing a coring tool in a borehole adjacent a subterranean formation to be sampled, determining a property of the formation, selecting a coring tool operational mode based on the property, and obtaining a sample from the formation using the coring tool operational mode
The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that those skilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
The Abstract at the end of this disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
Moon, Barry, Pisio, Vincent Jeffrey, Buchanan, Steven E.
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Jun 21 2012 | BUCHANAN, STEVEN E | Schlumberger Technology Corporation | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 028529 | /0093 | |
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